Environmental Drivers of Respiratory Disease: A District Level Analysis

Rahim Iqbal; Asfi Ahamed; Izzath Nisfer; Shazan Shaheed; Muhammadu Ilham; Nathali Athukorala; Madara Mendis; Nisansa de Silva; Sandareka Wickramanayake

arXiv · 2607.04416

Environmental Drivers of Respiratory Disease: A District Level Analysis

Rahim Iqbal·Asfi Ahamed·Izzath Nisfer·Shazan Shaheed·Muhammadu Ilham·Nathali Athukorala·Madara Mendis·Nisansa de Silva·Sandareka Wickramanayake

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Abstract

Sri Lanka has experienced a decade of progressive forest degradation and rising atmospheric pollution, yet district-level respiratory admissions have paradoxically declined, pointing to the confounding role of healthcare access. This study addresses that gap by constructing an 11-year (2014-2024) panel dataset across all 25 administrative districts, integrating satellite-derived vegetation indices, fire radiative power, pollutant concentrations (particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2)), carbon flux metrics and population-normalized respiratory admission rates. Two temporally validated XGBoost models were created for annual district-level respiratory rate (R^2 = 0.937) and monthly PM2.5 concentration (R^2 = 0.976) with generalization validated in 21 out of 25 districts (Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) <= 20%). Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) analysis established that cumulative air quality burden is the overwhelming driver of respiratory rate variance (80.1%), ahead of forest degradation (15.6%) and fire activity (4.3%). The Forest-Air-Health (FAH) Risk Index used these SHAP-derived weights to find the districts with the highest risk: Colombo (FAH = 0.802), Gampaha (0.708), and Kalutara (0.682). These findings present the inaugural evidence-based, district-level framework correlating environmental degradation with respiratory health in Sri Lanka, establishing a quantitative basis for focused public health and environmental policy.

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Rahim Iqbal, Asfi Ahamed, Izzath Nisfer, Shazan Shaheed, Muhammadu Ilham, Nathali Athukorala, Madara Mendis, Nisansa de Silva, Sandareka Wickramanayake. 2026-07-05. Environmental Drivers of Respiratory Disease: A District Level Analysis. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.04416

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